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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: excardog who wrote (37140)	12/5/2004 2:05:22 PM
From: Big Dog	Respond to of 206183

You might look at a Medical Savings Account policy (Golden Rule offers one, and they may be called Health Savings Accounts now) with a high deductible. My deductible is just over $5000, after that it pays 80% for the next $5000, then 100%. Family of four monthly premium is approx. $525 with $25/mo going to the savings account. I have long believed that insurance should be for "catastrophic" uses and not routine doctor visits, etc. I have accumulated more than enough in my Medical Savings Account to pay the deductible amounts for a year. Contributions (including lump sum amounts equal to 12 X the premium I think) to the MSA are tax deductible and the withdrawals to pay medical expenses are tax free, earnings are tax-deferred if withdrawn for non-medical purposes. You can even invest the balance in the MSA in mutual funds, or it pays 4% interest (currently). For those folks who don't have access to group coverage, these individual MSA policies are quite good, I have had it for years. big

To: excardog who wrote (37140)	12/5/2004 2:56:48 PM
From: kollmhn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206183

XCD- Me thinks you need to re-work your insurance terms. Maybe go for catastrophe coverage, i.e., high deductibles. My wife and I aren't eligible for Medicare yet but here's what I've done and found it extremely beneficial: Our coverage has a $10,000 deductible PER INCIDENT, not per year. Say I break a leg, I pay the first $10,000. Break the other leg a week later and I pay the first $10,000 for that leg. Total premium PER YEAR is $2300 (up 20% from last year). Think about how many bills you can pay yourself with the $10,300 you'd save each year. In the fifteen years I've had this coverage I've saved close to $100,000. Now, given that our health is excellent we have little need for medical care but, naturally, we have to pay for the occasional visit or the $500 MRIs etc. Five years ago, I had a $55,000 back problem and, yes, it did cost me $12,000 out of pocket. That's been it, though, in all that time. Interestingly, when you walk in for medical service and say you have no insurance (none, at least, that matters until the bills get huge) they are not used to accepting cash payments. Better yet, you can often negotiate their price down to what they'd otherwise accept from the insurance company, or something close. The lesson here, imo, is that until people are forced to pay more of their own bills, the costs will never come under control. When you don't pay, what do you care how much it costs, right? The only catch is to be blessed with generally good health and be in a position to fork out the money when you do have a real incident.

To: excardog who wrote (37140)	12/5/2004 6:37:26 PM
From: chowder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206183

Off Topic ..... Cardoggie, keep in mind, that with catastrophic coverage, after your higher deductible is met, in my case I was using a $5000 deductible, 100% of your hospital bills are paid. So, you have a stop loss for major illnesses or serious accidents. What you are giving up is your outpatient crap like doctors office visits, physicals, minor illnesses and accidents. The key is you must be in good health and it helps if you don't smoke and aren't extremely overweight. That will get your rates down. If anyone has a pre-existing condition, high blood pressure, diabetes or something else, you may have to stay where you are because a new policy may not cover the condition. If you don't change policies, change deductibles. Get them as high as you can and you'll be amazed at the savings. The attitude of the health insurance company is; you take care of the little things, let them take care of the big things, and they will make your rate affordable. da-insurance-bum